


The Partygoers

by ArtistActorAthens



Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Coming Out, Gen, M/M, Supportive Jonah Beck, We all need a Jonah in our lives, friendship™, posting this now before the finale ends us all, pre-finale, slight angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 03:21:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19899028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtistActorAthens/pseuds/ArtistActorAthens
Summary: T.J. and Jonah get ready for Andi’s party at Jonah’s apartment. Stuff happens. Cue Supportive Bros.





	The Partygoers

**Author's Note:**

> tw - panic attack
> 
> Hey everyone! I loved the idea of T.J. and Jonah being buds and getting ready for the party together so I ended up with this little ficlet :) it's a little rough around the edges (read: extremely rough around the edges) but I hope you enjoy!

T.J. picked up the DVD cover laying on Jonah’s nightstand and laughed. “Judy Bartholomew? Really?”

Jonah snatched it away as he was trying to buckle his belt. “Hey, get off of that! She’s my mom! And she’s driving us, so watch it.”

“Wait, seriously?” T.J. blurted out while laughing. “Is that why I never met her when we were little?”

“Yes,” Jonah replied exasperatedly. “Go on, laugh it up. The Golden Trio did the same thing when they found out.”

The two boys had decided (rather hastily) to get ready for Andi’s party together, so here they were, goofing off and almost breaking many items in Jonah’s new room only fifteen minutes before the party was supposed to start. 

It was just like old times. When they were younger, they had done get-togethers like this after Little League games; Jonah’s dad made the best pretzel Jell-O, T.J. remembered. He had never met Jonah’s mom, despite going to Jonah’s old house almost every week. She was always preoccupied with something. That, or Jonah had been hiding her from all of his friends. The latter seemed more likely.

Jonah slapped the brightly colored DVD case on top of a box before digging into another one in a desperate attempt to find his packed clothes. T.J. looked down into the contents of the drawstring bag he’d brought with him. White dress shirt, black jeans, black jacket, black sneakers. He shook his head at himself. Why hadn’t he thought to bring something with a little more color?

“Hey, T.J.?” Jonah said. “I know we’re different sizes, but you can borrow some of my clothes if you want. A lot of them are big on me, so they might fit you.”

T.J. smiled at the offer, but shook his head. “Oh yeah, I’d know _just_ what to pick. Y’know, with my incredible fashion sense and all.” He gestured to his current outfit -- his Jefferson basketball hoodie and gray sweatpants -- and Jonah snickered. 

“Yeah, can’t help you much there,” he admitted as he brought out a striped T-shirt before giving it a disgusted look and throwing it back into the box. He pulled out another striped T-shirt only slightly different from the first one and gave it a nod of approval, slipping it over his undershirt and throwing on his jacket. “Where’s Cyrus when you need him, am I right?”

T.J. flushed at the mention of the boy’s name and gave a soft smile. “Yeah.”

Jonah’s eyes widened, seeming to have recalled something. “Oh, hey, Cyrus actually gave me a shirt that I think might work on you,” he said. He went back to the half-opened box, sifting through a pile of messily folded shirts before finding the one he needed. “Aha!” he exclaimed. He pulled out the shirt and threw it at T.J. “You wanna try it on?” he asked.

The shirt looked awfully familiar to T.J. It was simple: a dark blue button-down, a few shades too green to be royal. T.J. traced the edge of the collar with his thumb and thought. And then he remembered why it looked so familiar. He’d seen a picture of it before.

_Underdog (Cyrus) <3 [3:38 pm]: ATTACHMENT: 1 IMAGE _

_Underdog (Cyrus) <3 [3:38 pm]: Do you like it? _

_T.J. Kippen [3:39 pm]: Thumbs up!_

_Underdog (Cyrus) <3 [3:40 pm]: You should come over and see our sale! It’s near Cloud 10 and Red Rooster. I can give the shirt to you too if you want :) _

_T.J. Kippen [3:42 pm]: Actually, I’m at the park. Wanna meet up there?_

_Underdog (Cyrus) [3:43 pm]: Sure! Give me about 10 minutes._

_T.J. Kippen [3:45 pm]: Cool. See you then ;)_

He had never gotten that shirt from Cyrus. He hadn’t even gotten the chance to see Cyrus that day. Apparently, he’d given it to Jonah instead. T.J. tensed his fists and willed himself not to cry. Or scream in frustration. Either option was viable.

Jonah looked at him with his usual confused expression. “Do you hate it that much?”

“No...I actually like it,” T.J. admitted. This was true. It was formal wear and he could stand it. That had to count for something.

“Then keep it!” Jonah said simply. “I don’t think Cyrus would mind if I gave it to you.”

T.J. nodded. “Yeah, I just…”

How did he explain this? All the bottled-up emotions inside him? All the things he wanted to say but just couldn’t, no matter how hard he tried? His head felt like it was spinning around and around, filled to the brim with unspoken words and feelings, things he wished he could say to a certain brown-eyed boy who he cared about so much it scared him. Secrets, and fears, and lies, all boiling up inside him until --

A hand touched his arm. “Hey, T.J., breathe with me.”

T.J. looked up -- since when had he been on the floor? -- at Jonah, who kneeled down and put his hands on T.J.’s shoulders. “Inhale for 4, hold for 7, exhale for 8.”

T.J. followed Jonah’s numbers, steadily breathing as he felt his heart rate decrease. Jonah stood up and T.J. followed suit. “You okay?”

“Yeah, I think so, thanks,” T.J. responded, still a bit shaken. “What _was_ that?”

“My guess? Panic attack,” Jonah answered. “They’re scary, but it doesn’t last forever. If it happens again, just breathe. Breathe and remember that.”

Silence filled the room. T.J. looked at his shoes, unsure of what to say. “I’m sorry,” he eventually decided. “For...leaving.”

“It’s okay. Cyrus’s dad found me.”

“I know. I told him where you were.”

Jonah smiled, and then gave a concerned expression. “You don’t have to explain if you don't want to…” he trailed off, unsure of how to word the second part of the phrase. “...but, if you want to talk to me, you can. I probably won’t give great advice, but I’ll listen.”

T.J. nodded. “Thanks.” He debated explaining to Jonah what was going on with him, but he decided against it. It was best to just focus on the party for now.

Jonah pulled out a mint green T-shirt and gestured for T.J. to throw him back the other one. “Try this.”

T.J. put it on. It worked perfectly with his outfit. Jonah grinned. “Look at you, Kippen!” he laughed. “I am _so_ good with fashion. That shirt was definitely not just sitting at the top of the box, I _hand-selected_ it.” 

“Party’s not gonna start ‘till we get there!” T.J. hooted.

Jonah’s phone pinged with a text. He read it and looked up at T.J. sheepishly. “Actually, the party started ten minutes ago.” He slid a small box from his nightstand into his jacket pocket. “You ready?”

“What was that?” T.J. asked.

“Oh, the box? A gift.”

“For who?”

“Someone.”

“Andi?”

“Yeah.” T.J. laughed, because _of course_ , and Jonah put his beanie on and nudged T.J. with his elbow. “Ready to go woo the ladies?” he asked jokingly. 

At T.J.’s awkward responsive glance and small head-shake, Jonah raised an eyebrow and smiled. “Gentlemen?”

Should he answer that? In a split-second decision, T.J. smiled and gave a timid nod. “Yeah, I guess.”

“That’s cool, man. Let’s go woo our people. Mom, we’re ready!” Jonah yelled out as T.J. put on his coat.

“Alright, I’ll be in the car,” Mrs. Bartholomew yelled back.

As they went down the hallway to the apartment building’s elevators, T.J. smiled to himself. He had basically just come out to Jonah, and he was totally fine with it. He was extremely grateful for that. “Hey, um...thanks for being cool about me being...you know.” He paused. “Gay.”

Jonah smiled. “Yeah, of course. I mean, you were cool back when I told you about my anxiety disorder, so I have you to thank too.” 

“You’re a really good friend,” T.J. blurted out. He hadn’t meant to say that. He wasn’t the best at expressing how he felt, especially to other guys who might think he was weird for having emotions.

“You are too,” Jonah responded, thinking nothing was weird or dorky about what T.J. had said. “I’m glad Cyrus knocked some sense into me. I was so worked up over pretty much nothing.” He pushed a button on the wall to summon the elevator; it blinked for a few seconds, then fizzled out of life. Jonah shrugged. “Looks like we’re taking the stairs.”

With each echoing step, T.J. felt himself becoming more and more willing to open up to Jonah. He knew he could trust him. He wanted to tell him something. Something he hadn’t told anyone. He inhaled. Then exhaled. _4-7-8._ “Hey, Jonah?”

Jonah stopped on the landing and turned around to face T.J. “Yeah?”

“If I tell you a secret, will you promise not to say anything?”

The words sounded so childish and trivial, but T.J. couldn’t find any better ones to use. His question echoed around them, filling up the room, until,

“Yeah, of course.”

T.J. felt himself turning red and started to fiddle with his gloved fingers as he walked down to meet Jonah on the linoleum landing. “Sooo...I like this guy. Like, a lot. It’s scary sometimes. But I like him so much. He’s so sweet, and he’s always believed in me, and I love spending time with him and his smile makes my heart beat really fast and he’s really, really cute.” He flushed further as Cyrus’s grinning face popped into his head, and further still as he realized he had blurted all of that out Jonah in a single breath. Jonah watched on during T.J.’s little rant, nodding along with thoughtful eyes.

He smiled, a bit too knowingly for T.J.’s liking, and simply asked, “Do you want to tell him how you feel?”

That was a surprise. He didn’t ask who it was right off the bat. “That’s...the thing,” T.J. admitted, looking at his feet. “I’m not sure if he likes me back. At all. I don’t even know if he likes guys. But we’re really good friends, so I’ll probably have to tell him at some point. Even if that means he’ll push me away and never talk to me again.”

“Who is it?”

There it was. T.J. looked up nervously and suddenly became very interested in the fire extinguisher. “Um…”

“It’ll just help me figure out if he’ll stop being your friend over something like this,” Jonah explained. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, though.”

“I do want to, actually. I’m just...scared.”

“I get that,” Jonah replied. “And, uh...not sure if this’ll make you feel better or worse, but I kind of have a guess?”

T.J. froze. “What? Who?”

“I’m not saying. I’m not as dense or oblivious as people think I am, but I’m not a mind reader either. I could be completely wrong.”

“Seriously, who do you think I like, Jonah? I’m intrigued. I’d love to know who you think my type is,” T.J. deadpanned, rolling his eyes and smirking.

Jonah _hmm_ ed to himself. “I guess there’s no harm in guessing,” he said. Despite the emptiness of the staircase, he leaned up to whisper, “Is it Cyrus?”

T.J. swore he was a human tomato at this point. “Uh...um...I mean...yeah. Yes. It’s-- it’s Cyrus,” he stammered.

Jonah nodded. “Your secret’s safe with me,” he reassured him. “Okay, so Cyrus is someone we both know well, and someone we both know would _never_ break off a friendship over a crush, right?”

He didn’t gloat that he knew T.J.’s crush. He didn’t immediately go around to text Cyrus or anyone else about it. He just listened, and gave his opinion, and was supportive, and promised to keep his secret just that. T.J. felt like he was going to cry. No one had ever done that before -- save Cyrus, but it wasn’t like T.J. could talk to him about this. “He wouldn’t?”

Jonah looked away. “Either direction,” he muttered. It was quiet, but there was no hostility in his voice. He turned back to T.J. “So...what are you going to do tonight?”

Again, the question caught him off guard. It felt like Jonah had barely asked anything, and T.J. was perfectly fine with that. “I’m going to...have fun,” he concluded. “Have fun, spend time with my friends, dance to really loud music, and maybe talk to that boy and tell him how I feel. Maybe.”

“I think that plan is pretty docious magocious,” Jonah replied with a grin.

As they reached the bottom of the stairs, Jonah put his arm around T.J’s shoulder and gave him a supportive pat. “You ready to go?” he asked, putting his free hand against the door to the parking garage.

T.J. reciprocated, then helped Jonah to push the door open. “I think I am.”

He really was lucky to have a friend like Jonah.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments and Kudos are appreciated!


End file.
